Archive for June, 2012

I received news that one of my favorite Uncles had died while I was traveling. It was not expected and I immediately began to think of all the times my Uncle had taken me to lunch during college, provided great advice, and showed kindness to others but humbly, donating moeny to my cousin;s (who is a Priest) homeless shelter without ever telling my cousin.

But for me, during this time, I discovered that my Uncle had also been awarded a Purple Heart. I knew he had been in the Army, and that the experience impacted his life forever. But I had never heard what happened. He wouldn’t talk about it. But I discovered this story during this past weekend. And I wanted to know more.

The Army posted to its Purple Heart Community my Uncle’s Obitrary. And a friend of my Uncle posted a comment so I reached out to him. I asked him to tell me about my Uncle in the war and what had happened.

And the Power of Social that I evangelize about in the business world touched my heart. My Uncle’s friend used this community to save a story for our family. This friend that we didn’t know about was a retired Lawyer now and he wrote me things about my Uncle I never knew. He had been drafted into the Army during WW II and served in the Infantry. But I didn’t know he was at D-Day on the Beaches of Normandy in the 3rd wave to hit the beach. I didn’t know that he was struck by an enemy bullet in the arm while he was helping another troop member. And I didn’t know that he requested no ceremony for this honor because he felt like he was “doing his duty to his country”. There is more, but I won’t bore you with it. But this day was special to me for a lot of reasons and one is this social touch.

Yesterday, I did my Uncle’s Eulogy. It was hard. He was always a man of faith and family to me. He was always 100% Lithunian to me. But I learned what a man of Freedom he was.

I have watch funerals on TV where Taps is played. But until you have heard it live, and felt its impact, you don’t know how powerful it is. I thank my new friend who came to the funeral who gave me this new story through social forms. I thank the Army yesterday for their respect and powerful impact at the funeral. And know that my Uncle will live in my heart forever.

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Next week in London, the Collaboration Matters team along with IBM will present the Social Retail Storefront! See this LIVE next week Marketing Week Live !!!!

The old way is very static and not engaging!

Instead of mannequins in the shop window we have real people supplemented with plasma screens with Twitter feeds based on a brand/event specific hash tag. In this way, the barrier that separates the viewer on the street and the brand offering behind the glass is gradually ‘broken’ via the medium of Social networking. The viewer is able to join a conversation with relevant people inside the brand (e.g. handbag or show designer) and they are able with their digital interactions to actually shape the action that takes place in the Shop Window! How cool!!!

Furthermore, a viewer can be invited to join an elite private brand community (IBM Connections platform) where they will see and participate in conversations around design and development of the brands offering. They will then tweet about their experience inside the brand Community.

Outcomes – What has changed? The Window has become interactive and is alive and it delivers a live, targeted Community to the brand straight from the event The new “Social Shop Window” breaks the shop window and unites brand, consumer and company.

IBM today announced that for the third consecutive year, IDC ranked IBM number one in worldwide market share for enterprise social software. According to IDC’s analysis of 2011 revenue, IBM grew faster than its competitors and nearly two times faster than the overall market which grew approximately 40 percent.*

The growing popularity of social networking continues to explode, with more and more organizations looking for ways to adopt Social Business practices to integrate global teams, drive innovation, increase productivity and better reach customers and partners.

According to IDC, the enterprise social platforms market is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2016, representing growth of 43 percent over the next four years.*

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IBM released its CEO Study. I love this study as it is the largest CEO study done in the world. The IBM Institute of Business Value.

This years was particularly interesting to those in the Social World. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the outcomes. What surprised you? For me, it was the increase planned by CEOs for their personal use!

2012 CEO Study Interesting SOCIAL Stats!

Today, 16 percent of CEOs are using social business platforms to connect with customers, but that number is poised to spike to 57 percent within the next three to five years.

More than 70 percent of CEOs are seeking a better understanding of individual customer needs and improved responsiveness.

Currently, social media is the least utilized of all customer interaction methods. Over half of the CEOs expect social channels to be a primary way of engaging customers within five years.

CEOs discussed the whirlwind of “social” change they’re witnessing. Facebook, Renren, Twitter, Weibo, Foursquare and other technology upstarts have stormed across markets and industries. Smart, mobile devices are pervasive. And new technologies are emerging to help organizations store and make sense of the “big data” this digital storm is creating.

With more employees participating in highly social, media-rich environments outside of work, traditional corporate collaboration tools look outdated and limiting. To connect with the new generation of employees,” a banking CEO from Argentina acknowledged, “we will need to change communication methods. We are the e-mail generation; they are the social network generation.”

Currently, social media is the least utilized of all customer interaction methods. However, CEOs predict it will push past websites, call centers and channel partners, and become the number-two way to engage customers within the next five years.

Despite social media’s frequent use as a way of communicating to customers, CEOs recognize its real value as a source of insight and a means of collaboration.

According to IBM’s 2011 CEO Study, CEOs are building analytical muscle to respond with relevance and immediacy to better engage customers as individuals. As a group, CEOs are investing in customer insights more than any other functional area — far above operations, competitive intelligence, financial analysis and even risk management. More than 70 percent of CEOs are seeking a better understanding of individual customer needs and improved responsiveness.

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Today’s Social Business Coffee Break is about the most effective way to adopt Social — insert it into your business process. One of the top use cases is about using social to break down those silos that exist!